Political reform hopes dim in Zimbabwe

Riot police officers round up vendors as they keep watch outside the Tredgold Building Magistrate court in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, August 19, 2019. [Reuters]
Zimbabwe police deployed in force yesterday to block a street protest for the third time in five days, as the main opposition party said hopes were vanishing that the government might become more tolerant of dissent than the regime it replaced.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa was elected a year ago on a pro-reform ticket, promising a break with the political repression that characterised Robert Mugabe's 37-year rule and an economic upturn.
But the economy is mired in its worst crisis in a decade, and security forces have used strong-arm tactics to snuff out three attempts by the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to hold street demonstrations since Friday.
"There is a determined effort by the regime to ensure that there is no more democratic space," MDC national spokesman Daniel Molokele said.

"They are also deploying a lot of military and police in the streets... It clearly shows that the new government is even worse than that of Robert Mugabe."
Yesterday's heavy security deployment was in the central city of Gweru, where police - who had banned the march on Monday night - patrolled on foot and in lorries and cordoned off a university, a local journalist told Reuters.
Previous bans

The MDC said it would challenge the ban in court yesterday.
The party failed to overturn two previous bans on marches in the capital Harare on Friday - where police rounded up MDC followers and dispersed them with batons and water cannon and tear gas - and in the second city Bulawayo on Monday.

In the days before the planned Harare demonstration, six political activists were abducted from their homes at night and beaten by armed men, rights groups say.
"The move to ban demonstrations predicated on a spurious assertion that the opposition is plotting violent regime change, is not sustainable," said analyst Piers Pigou, Crisis Group's senior consultant for southern Africa.

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